Machine tools are frequently equipped with a tool magazine to enable the processing of a workpiece by means of a plurality of tools. The tools which are not used at the moment are stored in the tool magazine. The tool magazine here has a tool magazine chain, on the individual chain links of which the tools are mounted. When a tool is disposed at a certain position in the tool magazine, it can be removed from the magazine at that position and transported to the work area of the machine tool to machine the workpiece. When the machining shall be continued by means of another tool at a later time, the tool magazine chain circulates until the other tool has reached the tool removal position and the current tool can be exchanged with the other tool.
The chain here usually moves on a course formed by two parallel paths which have equal length and the ends of which are interconnected via two opposite circular arcs.
However, such a system creates problems when a high magazine capacity for at least 60 tools is desired since the space required for the circulating movement of the chain and thus for the tool magazine is considerably increased. At the same rime, the stability of the magazine design is reduced when a substantially greater weight has to be set in motion due to the larger number of tools as soon as a tool exchange shall be carried out. Therefore, the speed of the tool exchange is limited.